Selected Impromptu Speech to the Meeting with Workers/Employees in the Prey Tea Area [Unofficial Translation]

Respect, Affection and Trust of Three Generations

Let me extend my warm welcome to nieces and nephews workers, leaders of the Royal Government institutions, sub-national authority, and managers and owners of factories in the area for being present. We have over 16,000 workers from twenty factories. By the way, I wish to inform our workers in other places that on the next Wednesday, I will set out to India for the ASEAN-India Summit, the Indian National Day, and an official visit to India as well. I will return on Sunday […] I am so happy to be able to get together with our workers here and every other places that I had been. I thank you workers for your welcome and hospitality, as well as your respect to me. It is not just a meeting with simply the Prime Minister. Your affection, and amicability for me has surpassed relations between a leader and his/her people since you have considered me your uncles, granduncles, and even your father. It is indeed a source of encouragement.

What we had been able to do together – your parents, grandparents and I, and now with you – is not a history of one or two days, or one or two months, or one or two years. Our history clearly affirms that we have been together for forty years already from the time of salving our country from the regime of Pol Pot, to save lives of your grandparents, parents, who have given lives to you, to the present. This has clearly showed that we have made this journey together, three generations already so to speak. This has brought about friendly feeling and amicability. I thank you for your supports, as well as those of your grandparents and parents, for making such a journey with the Cambodian People’s Party, with me, who has been a long serving Prime Minister in the region and in the world. It has been 39 years since the liberation of our country on 7 January 1979 to the present […]

Follow-up on Workers’ Salary

We have reviewed incomes of our workers – their minimum wages plus other advantages. Mostly you have made over 200 USD (per month) while in many countries, workers survive with even less than half of your salary. Each country has different situation to deal with. In Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, their wages were around 67 USD, in India – 77 USD, in Myanmar – 79 USD, and in Laos – 110 USD. I am sure these countries have also reviewed their workers’ incomes. We must be following up wage policies in those countries regularly because of the nature of its competition in garment and apparel sector, which is one of the leading sectors to provide jobs and incomes for our people. While our workers are receiving higher incomes, they also are benefiting from reductions of expenses on various necessities/commodities thanks to efforts made by the Royal Government in maintaining macroeconomic stability, especially inflation to avoid a gap that salary increase does not afford sky-rocketed commodities prices. Inflations in 2017 was at 2.9%, not even 3%, while in our annual plan, we were to keep it at around 3.5%. It is on this note that wage increases gives our workers benefit […]

RGC’s Social Protection Truly and Properly Implemented

I am grateful to and appreciating efforts made by the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training, and the Ministry of Health, for implementing properly the RGC’s social protection policies. I was at the Calmette hospital the other day to put into official operation a new building for cancer treatment using nuclear radioactive, which offers better chance for treatment of cancer, especially women with womb cancer and other types of cancers too. We can do it in our country now. While viewing the ward and equipment, midwives told me that over half of women coming for delivery at Calmette hospital are female workers. According to the report of the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training, which I have received regularly, as of 10 am yesterday, there were 123 female workers giving births to 124 new-born babies. In sixteen days so far, our some 1,895 female workers gave births to 1,911 babies since there were some twin deliveries.

We have provided them with cash assistance […] I thank the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training, the Ministry of Health, especially the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) for making cash assistance right at the time and place for them making this prioritized program of the Prime Minister real in action […] I am calling on every foundations to register with the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training to secure interests for their workers both in registered and non-registered sectors […] we have reserved a sum of ten million USD and we have made a pre-financing transference of 25% of the amount to NSSF, once they are out of the money, another 25% of the annual funding will be transferred […]

New Airports in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap

In the past 2017, our economy has grown very strongly. Thanks to such development, we have positive impacts on 2018 […] purchasing orders continue. This has allowed Cambodia to export products from both agriculture and industry. Tourists to the Kingdom of Cambodia continues according to their schedules and in growing number too. Last year, our small country received 5.6 million tourists. This has brought us to a consideration for a new airport in Phnom Penh and in Siem Reap province. We must start thinking from now for a long-term growth of our country. We can now look at evidences of more constructions of factories on that side. This is evident that we will be able to provide more jobs for our people. We are working to give more jobs, to secure incomes, and defend them. We have gone through so much that we must not allow anyone, guerilla in the forest or in city, to destroy them. Your grandparents, parents, and now you have been doing a lot for this country to have peace after it was torn by war, genocide, and then civil war again. A country of about seven million populations, one third of them were killed. No country could have compared their sufferings to us. Even tragedies that happened in Rwanda or Sierra Leone could not fathom those in Cambodia […]

Meeting Workers in Sihanoukville Before Rain Comes

I am proposing to the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training to reorganize plan for (meetings in) the Sihanoukville province. We can alter our schedules a bit. At first we thought of meeting with workers on 31 of April or 1 of May […] However, if we prolong meetings till 1 May, there would be rain coming at the coastal areas. We should reschedule to meet some twenty thousand workers in the Sihanoukville province before rainy season. We should organize a meeting with workers and employees then, and on 1 May, which is the International Labor Day, we could think of something […]

… In just three weeks, Prime Minister of a country representing 1,350 million population, the People’s Republic of China, conducted his visit to the Kingdom of Cambodia. I will soon conduct an official visit to India that is representing also over 1,200 million population. That is a development course of Cambodia’s foreign policy. We are implementing a foreign policy of neutrality and non-alignment. We are making and building up relations with every country in the world and our main aim is to promote Cambodia’s socio-economic development. In this world, no matter one country is big or small, poor or rich, economic relations in trade and investment have been a normal conduct. They are complimenting each other. They send goods to our country and we do to theirs. It is a normal process and a nature defined by conditions set by the World Trade Organization, to which Cambodia is also a member […]

Cambodia is advancing on a policy guideline for regional, sub-regional, and international integrations within the frameworks of free trade areas, and free trade partners with every countries […] We have seen what happened in Tunisia, where violent demonstration caused loss of lives because of the country’s policies that had led to high prices of commodities. In Cambodia, we respect the procedures of free trade. Market decides while the state monitors it to guarantee controllable inflation rate that will not have negative on people’s living condition. We are making our economy strong and responsive to people’s better life […]./.